On January 11, 2022, Ardstone, the Dublin property investment and development firm, wrote to the Ballyboden Tidy Town Group (BTTG) warning it of a defamation action.

Ardstone, which sources and manages a portfolio of assets on behalf of select clients and funds across Ireland, Spain, Germany, and the UK, felt it had no choice but to do so. The firm said it was frustrated at what it believes are “false, damaging and defamatory statements” being made online by the tidy town group online about it.

Solicitors for BTTG have in turn counterclaimed that Ardstone is alleging defamation in an attempt to “intimidate” it from pursuing two judicial review actions against Ardstone developments in Rathfarnham in south Dublin. Combined, the two developments consist of 355 residential units.

However, Ardstone says this is untrue and that its defamation action is unrelated and is motivated by its determination to protect its reputation and right to a good name.

Ardstone’s solicitors, the law firm Augustus Cullen, sent two letters in January to the community group outlining its concerns about claims made by BTTG both on social media and on a fundraising page used by the group to fund judicial reviews against half a dozen housing and apartment projects in south Dublin.

It also asked the group to name the members who had either written or consented to the publication of what it is alleging to be defamatory material about its business. It has said it is prepared to seek a High Court disclosure order to find out these names if required.

In a letter on behalf of BTTG, solicitor Fred Logue responded that the allegations of defamation were “entirely unmeritorious; are not actionable and have been put forward as a pretext for launching abusive SLAPP litigation”.

SLAPP stands for strategic litigation against public participation. Ardstone has categorically denied it is engaged in such activity and said that it is only concerned with protecting its good reputation.

It is a heated dispute taking place in the middle of a housing crisis. So just who are the players involved and how did things get to this point?

Raising funds, tackling Strategic Housing Developments

On its fundraising page, BTTG has a detailed explanation about why it says it was set up by various local residents. The BTTG group is chaired by local resident Angela O’Donoghue but its exact membership is not publicly available.

On its fundraising page, BTTG contends that “the biggest threat to Ballyboden, Rathfarnham and Knocklyon” is the “arrival of several Strategic Housing Developments (SHD) in our area and regrettably more are on their way.” It asks local residents to fund its battle against these projects either by paying a one-off sum or agreeing to a monthly donation.

Its fundraising page lists half a dozen projects it is concerned about that are either proposed or under construction. The developments listed total almost 2,000 residential properties ranging from houses to apartments to build-to-let projects.

BTTG says it was originally inspired to set up its fundraising page when Ardstone secured planning permission to build 510 residential units on the Scholardstown Road, a development that is currently under construction.

BTTG said it “regrets” it did not try to block this development by taking a judicial review as it claims “based on legal advice, we had strong grounds to take such a legal challenge”.

“We decided that we would set up this fundraising page so that we would be ready to challenge every other SHD that came into our area,” BTTG told potential funders. “We believe that all development should be sustainable and in compliance with the county development plan and principles of proper planning.”

A High Court search shows that BTTG has taken five judicial reviews against An Bord Pleanala in relation to projects being promoted by various developers. In each case it is represented by FP Logue Solicitors, a Smithfield based legal firm that is very active in taking judicial reviews in Ireland. The firm has said previously it has around 25 judicial reviews either pending or completed.

Its work with BTTG had a notable success on January 10 when An Bord Pleanála’s approval of 486 apartments in south Dublin as part of a Strategic Housing Development was quashed. This project was being built by Shannon Homes on a site formerly used as a seminary and chapel by the Augustinian Order, and a pitch and putt course.

Mr Justice David Holland ruled in BTTG’s favour on various grounds including that the planning board had failed to take public transport capacity for the area properly into account and a residential density of some 142 dwellings per hectare, was in breach of the aims and objectives of a development plan for the area.

In correspondence dated January 24 with Ardstone, FP Logue notes the Shannon Homes related judgement and outlines the key findings of this judgement. The law firm claims “some, if not all, of these points, will also find application in pending and potential judicial reviews of planning decisions submitted by your client and associated companies including the two pending judicial reviews” being taken by BTTG.

The letter stated: “The record shows that my client, a voluntary group established to promote environmental protection in its locality, is an active and effective participant in planning and environmental decision making.”

Claims and counterclaims

There are various claims about Ardstone by BTTG both on social media, YouTube, and previously on its fundraising page. In legal correspondence, Ardstone’s law firm Augustus Cullen Law explained over four pages its concerns and belief that its client had been defamed on these platforms.

“It is grossly defamatory of our client to describe it as an entity ‘that will haunt our area for years to come’ and which ‘destroyed the archaeological gem (Ancient Ringfort) on the Scholarstown Road to build 510 units currently under construction,” it stated.

Its legal team said that the statement is “factually incorrect as, on discovering archaeological features on the site, our client worked closely with the Department of Culture Heritage and the Gaeltacht under licences in consultation with the National Museum of Ireland to deal with this archaeological find appropriately”.

It added: “A fully supervised archaeological dig of the site took place over five months which was approved and overseen by the relevant statutory authorities. Your publication is entirely silent about the care and respect which was demonstrated by our client in this regard.”

Ardstone said similar allegations about an “ancient ringfort” had been made by BTTG on its Twitter account and on YouTube. Ardstone told BTTC that all of these allegations were untrue and defamatory. “Our client is no longer prepared to tolerate such sustained and grievous attacks on its good name and reputation,” it said.

It said it had managed to get the fundraising platform, ifundraise.ie, to take down the allegations against it in June 2021, but BTTG it contented had not published a corrective statement that it had asked it to.    

Ardstone makes its case

In a detailed statement to The Currency in relation to the dispute Ardstone said it was a fund and development manager which administers and invests funds for large investors including Irish and international pension funds.

“We pride ourselves on working closely with national and local government to deliver quality residential units to help address the current housing crisis,” it said. “In the past five years, we have completed over 1,500 units and are on-site with a further 900 units.

“Our developments represent best workmanship and practices. We guard our reputation very seriously as that is the cornerstone of our business, both in Ireland and abroad. We believe to protect this we had no option but to issue the letter as other approaches had failed.”

“Ardstone first became aware of defamatory remarks made on an ifundraise.ie page posted by Ballyboden Tidy Towns Group (BTTG) in June 2021. These comments were included in our letter of January 2022. We wrote directly to BTTG and ifund making a complaint about the remarks. Ifund immediately took down the comments but the ifundme page seeking funds to bring judicial review’s remains live.

“In November 2021, Ardstone became aware that, despite previous correspondence, defamatory remarks remain online via YouTube and Twitter – details of these defamations are outlined in our letter of January last. On discovering this we sought separate legal advice as to our options. Notwithstanding the JR proceedings, which are separate and running their own course, our advice was that these remarks were defamatory and should be addressed. The reason we sent the letter was to protect our reputation and good name.

“Ardstone has asked BTTG to take down what it believes are false social media postings and correct the record. Ifundme removed the comments in June, 2021, but BTTG didn’t follow up on their undertaking to post our letter on ‘their webpage’ and to issue a text. The YouTube video and associated text and the Twitter comments remain online, and no effort has been made to remove them.

“We have asked BTTG on more than one occasion to provide a list of names of its members, but they have not done so.”

The Currency sent BTTG a series of questions. Its chair O’Donoghue said its position was set out in legal correspondence with Ardstone. 

Ardstone: What is its business and who is behind it?

Ardstone is a full service, real estate investment manager based in London and Dublin with offices in Barcelona and Dusseldorf. In Dublin its office in the heart of Georgian Dublin overlooks Fitzwilliam Square. 

Established by former Friends First property chiefs Donal Mulcahy, Ciaran Burns, and Donal O’Neill. Ardstone Homes, its residential division has plans to build thousands of homes across Ireland.

In a May 2021 interview, O’Neill told IPE Real Assets: “We have been highly active in the residential market [in Ireland] for the past five years and we are confident that our local expertise, pipeline, and sustainability knowledge will allow us to move quickly towards our ambition of scaling the portfolio to 3,500 units by this time next year and creating significant value for our investors.”

Ardstone Capital manages a number of major funds, including a £225 million fund focused on commercial property in Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham. The Ardstone Residential Partners Fund, a €200 million fund, focuses on the Irish residential sector.